get a true political genius to manage my campaign. and his name is martin bashir. >> sorry. no chance whatsoever. good afternoon, it's friday, may the 17th. and a civil servant faces the guillotine. republicans are grandstanding. and the president, well, he just wants to get on with the job. ♪ >> i want to apologize on behalf of the internal revenue service. >> people are losing confidence in our government. >> foolish mistakes were made. not an act of partisanship. >> this is a problem for the irs being too large, too powerful. >> who knows who they'll target next. >> the last week of scandals has been like christmas morning. >> why did you mislead the congress and the american people? >> how can we not conclude you misled this committee? >> why are all the presents wrapped? what are they trying to hide? >> i did mislead congress nor

the american people. >> someone needs toç be imprisoned. >> who is the commissioner at that time? >> mr. shulman. >> who appointed mr. shulman? >> mr. bush. >> who i'm trying to basically debunk is the notion or idea to link these scandals to the white house. >> there isn't a weekend that hasn't gone by that someone says to me, why aren't you impeaching the president? >> why question is, who's going to jail over this scandal? ♪ everybody's working for the weekend ♪ >> good afternoon. we begin with the president back on the road and fighting to keep his agenda on track. even as washington swirls with scandals that may complicate his second term. the president traveled to baltimore, maryland, this afternoon perhaps seeking a little cheer with a visit to an elementary school. he also toured a dredging equipment company where he vowed to remain committed to jobs,

education, and economic growth. despite the many distractions of washington, d.c. >> i know it can seem frustrating sometimes when it seems like washington's priorities aren't the same as your priorities. i know it often seems like folks down there are more concerned with their jobs than with yours. others may get distracted by chasing every fleeting issue that passes by, but the middle class will always be my number one focus.ç period. >> but as the president returns to the white house, he does face continued challenges for one of the roughest weeks of his presidency. the house today convened its first hearings into the targeting of conservative groups by the internal revenue service, and republicans, well, they brought their best umbrage. >> this is offensive. this is offensive. it's the irs targeting gate. i'll put it right out there. >> i'm sad and i'm sick to my stomach. >> is this still america? is this government so drunk on

power? >> you're arguing today that the irs is not corrupt, but the subtext of that is saying, look, we're just incompetent. >> that last remark, a response to the outgoing irs head steven miller, who told lawmakers in his opening testimony that the lists made of conservative groups were made to cut corners, not to punish tea partyers. >> i think that what happened here was that foolish mistakes were made by people trying to be more efficient in their workload selection. the listing described in the report, while intolerable, was a mistake and not an act of partisanship. >> but some lawmakers were scarcely satisfied with that response. >> you didn't mention targeting based on ideology. you didn't mention targeting based on buzzwords like tea party or patriots orç 9/12. you knew that but didn't mention that to the committee. do you not think that's a very

incomplete answer? >> i answered the question truthfully. >> why did you say you have notes if you don't think you have notes? >> sir, please. please. >> do you have notes or don't you have notes? >> i don't know. >> where you're sitting, you should be outraged, but you're not. the american people should be outraged, and they are. >> so with lots of outrage and indignation to go around, question is, how much of it can republicans heap on the white house? let's get right to our panel. with us from washington, dana milbank, political columnist for the "washington post," and msnbc political analyst, professor michael eric dyson of georgetown university. dana, i've been following every one of your columns this week. you began by blaming the president for lacking leadership. you then scolded the attorney general for recusing himself. but you finally landed on what you describe as, and i'm quoting you, republicans turning legitimate areas of inquiry into more partisan food fights. what took you so long? >> well, it did take them a few

days to really go over the top. i mean, let's face it, martin. these are serious issues. i've never argued the benghazi thing is anything scandalous, but it's not a good thing when the government is pawing through the phone records of reporters, and it's not a good thing, whatever is behind it, if the irs is singling out conservative groups. this press conference yesterday and it's not just the crazy tea party back benchers. mitch mcconnell was there talking about impeachment. >> how is mitch mcconnell any different to what you describe as crazy back bench republicans? >> he's actually in charge. >> okay. >> that is the only distinction. >> well, he was elected by his peers, but now we know who the peers are. so it's not entirely surprising. spinning out all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories. it's not -- it's just dumb politics for the republicans here because they have the president back on his heels.

e't of criticism from both sides of the aisle. but what they're going to do now is they're going over the top with this and it's going to become just another partisan issue. and that, in a way, from their point of view, is going to let the president off the hook. >> professor dyson, it struck us that all roads in the current controversy lead back to the election in november. republicans say the truth of benghazi was intentionally withheld so the president would get to november unimpeded. they say the targeting of the tea party groups by the irs was not disclosed because, again, it would have obstructed his re-election campaign. given none of these scandals evidently think themselves to the president and he won an absolute majority, why are they incapable of selecting he is, in fact, the president and won the election fair and square? >>ç martin, you know, i don't want to cast compliments at your cucumber, or aspersions at your asparagus. the reality is this, that the fundamental truth of the reality of the republican world view

right now is that it cannot accept barack obama as the legitimate president of the united states of america. it hardly accepts him as a legitimate citizen of these united states of america. and it certainly doesn't want him to be in control of the bully pulpit or the megaphone to amplify american interests. now, you would think that since he's won two elections they would move forward, and as dana milbank is saying, there might be some legitimate arenas here for them to talk about. areas for them to engage in. you say considered discussion and conversation about different viewpoints. but they are not about that. they are about using anything they can as a litmus test to certify to them their -- as republicans. dana milbank is right here. even though i disagree, i think the irs scandal is much adieu about nothing. even if it's a legitimate concern, the reality is they're so over the top they're

incapable of having any kind of nuance of this discussion. what it ends up being, again, is a referendum on their inability to accept barack obama as president and their consternation and their clogging the government with all kind of extraneous things thatç don't make a difference about the every swrn day lives of american citizens here. that's what they're sworn to uphold and do. >> i'm afraid i agree with you. dana, you've also been rather harsh on attorney general eric holder this week accusing him of abdication. i'm quoting mr. gohmert, casting aspersions s on my asparagus, i mr. holder being treated with a level of contempt that perhaps prior attorney generals would not have been subjected to sm. >> i was in the room when mr. gohmert made that remark and turned to the guy next to me and said, did he actually say that? in fact, he has. the committee he was before has held holder in contempt of congress and clearly the feeling

is mutual. and many lawmakers on that panel have given holder reason to be contemptuous of him. here we have that exact same dynamic going on here. holder did not acquit himself entirely well. he said, i recused myself from the case. it doesn't mean you recused yourself if your department of justice is violating the first amendment by pawing through reporters' phone records. they were throwing everything in the kitchen sink at him there. that's continued to go on from there. so i think that just as the republican overreaching, lets resident off the hook, it ets lets the attorney general off the hook then it just becomes another washington food fight. >> indeed it has. it's interesting you refer to food. professor dyson, there he was referring to casting aspersions on his asparagus. but they also seem like a bunch of turn nips to me. what are your thoughts?

>> yeah. kale. kale. the fact that attorney general holder said he recused himself, and dana milbank says, look, you can't recuse yourself from engaging in practices we ultimately find illegal or nefarious or problematic. let that come out in the wash, so to speak. the attorney general said i recused myself from this situation so i'm stepping back. i wish many republicans would do the same. have enough integrity. have enough wherewithal to say, look, i'm going to be involved in this in a volatile manner and, therefore, withdraw my participation so as not to sully the proceedings here. we know what the bottom line is. casting aspersions at asparagus, no, but we know that eric holder is a stand-in, a proxy for barack obama. can't get to that guy, get to this guy. assault on him has been relentless. it's been unjustified. and so as a result of that, i think there's some resentment from the election as well because eric holder's office, the department of justice, dually upheld the right of many citizens of this country to

vote, and they were watchdogs over the process as they should be. and there's a lot of kind of delayed resistance to what he did and2kind of a lot of resentment about his protection of the rights of all americans. >> all roads go back to november, sir. all roads go back to november. professor michael eric dyson. the great dana milbank. thank you, both, gentlemen. next, an obstruction project at the capitol. how some conservatives are dead set on making sure that nothing whatsoever gets done in the 113th congress. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs.

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why did you mislead congress and the american people on this?

>> how can we not conclude that you misled this committee? >> who is responsible for targeting the conservative organizations? >> yes, we must ask these questions to the total exclusion of everything else, including immigration reform and tax reform. that, at least, is the opinion of jim demint's very powerful heritage foundation, or moreç accurately, its political action arm called heritage action. that organization has ordered speaker john boehner to, "avoid bringing any legislation to the house floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference." and would obviously include a vote on immigration reform, a subject on which the heritage foundation has been shamed for a report full of bogus costs by an author with a racist view of latinos. the said author, of course, had now resigned. but there may also be another reason for why heritage is anxious to highlight these hearings.

you see, heritage action, which actually made the request of mr. boehner, is a 501c4. a so-called social welfare organization. and it's these organizations which are at the heart of the irs scandal. so in addition to avoiding any kind of meaningful legislation, heritage action may also be hoping that congress will stay focused on haranguing the irs for daring to question the legality of politically motivated 501c4s like heritage action. joining us now is democratic congress w congresswom congresswoman louise slaughter of new york. good afternoon to you, nap. >> thank you for letting meç b here today. >> it's a great pleasure. did heritage need to advise speaker boehner on obstruction? because he's been olympic gold medalist in doing nothing, isn't he? >> oh my word.

i've never seen anything like it. some might call it treason, martin. at least that's a dereliction of duty. i've been asking every week at the rules committee, why aren't we doing these things that the senate would never take up and never become law? now we know why. they've written it down. i never thought i'd live to see that. >> are you really suggesting you have the temerity to question why the house should table its 37th, 38th, i can't even remember which vote to repeal the affordable care act? are you having the temerity to question republicans on that? >> as loud as i can. every time i'm up doing a rule. as a matter of fact, we brought forward the fact yesterday that since it runs $25 million to run the house of representatives a week, that we have spent just on floor time, debate time, on repealing the health care bill on which we need so desperately and we rely, that has cost $53 million. >> yes. >> by itself. >> excellent. excellent fiscal conservatives there.

now, in the letter, in the letter, heritage also says it's against the house gop's demand for $21 billion in cuts to the food stamps program, not because it's too much, but because they say it's not çenough. they want more cut. how do you, as a member of congress, work with people who believe that? >> well, i don't know who those people represent, but certainly not my district which is very diverse, and we have people basically who care for each other. but it's more than that. it's so much more than that. we are so privileged to be sent down by our neighbors to represent them in this wonderful complex. and to mess it up like that for personal, parochial, political interests is really pretty awful. and it's -- i think this letter hopefully will make it stop. now, maybe they'll pass the farm bill that i certainly hope so. we know that the house bill, as you point out, does drastic things to -- >> indeed -- >> -- food stamps.

>> indeed it does. congresswoman, i wanted to ask you a question on the topic of the sexual assaults issue in the military. >> yes. >> can i play you something that chuck hagel said just a short time ago? take a listen, ma'am. >> this is cultural. this is an accountability issue. it's sometimes a structural issue. are we going far enough up and down the chain of command? there are so many dimensions to this that i don't think you can come at it in one simple way. >> we've now had three high-profile scandals of men in the armed forces chargedç with overseeing elements of the sexual assaults prevention unit, either suspected or charged with violating that very trust, itself. what must be done about this? >> you know, he's absolutely correct that it is cultural because i think that's what happens to many of our young people who go to the academies.

they're the cream of the crop. they're the best in the community that we have the opportunity to send to the military academies. and often they get into trouble. so culture is a large part of it. but two other things that over the years, i've worked on this for 20 years, and one very important thing, there needs to be women at the high stratus of military. we have a lot more women generals that will help. but more important, even than that, is that the perpetrators need punishment. if there was some serious punishment meted out to the people who are perpetrating these kinds of crimes, actually, against their fellow soldiers and sailors and people in the military, i think that would be the best deterrent we could have. >> congresswoman louise slaughter, thank you for joining us this friday afternoon. >> it's a pleasure. i thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, temptation island for republicans. try to resist the urge to spike that football. obama has been in full damage control trying to wiggle

out of this one just like he wiggled out of serving in vietnam.ç well, sorry, mr. president, you can't escape this time by claiming to be 8 years old. do we have a mower? no. a trimmer? no. we got nothing. we just bought our first house, we're on a budget. we're not ready for spring. well let's get you ready. very nice. you see these various colors. got workshops every saturday. yes, maybe a little bit over here. summer's here. so are the savings. not bad. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get special buys on select toro products, like this self propelled mower just $274. to support strong bones. and the brand most recommended by... my doctor. my gynecologist. my pharmacist. citracal. citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor.

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progress, she also passionately argued against a culture where young men and women may prefer a quick fix of stardom as opposed to the hard work of study. >> take a stand against the culture that glorifies instant gratification instead of hard work and lasting success.ç and as my husband has said often, please stand up and reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white. reject that. >> well said, first lady. stay with us. top lines, the week in review, is right ahead. asional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues... with three strains of good bacteria. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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here, republicans. here are today's top lines. the week in review. >> my question isn't about who's going to resign. my question is who's going to jail. >> you got benghazi, you got the irs scandal. now we got this invasion into people's privacy. >> yet another story that indicates the federal government is not telling the truth. >> president's somewhat drunk on power. >> lying, then lying about lying, then hiding from the fact that they're lying. >> one of the most egregious abuses of government power that i can think of. >> there is no doubt saddam hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. >> one story after another, after another. >> what we don't know is whether it jumped the fence from the irs to the white house. >> what are the boundaries of this administration? >> one of the worst incidents since, çfrankly, that i can recall. >> everything i've ever said about obama is true. he's a secret muslim, shape shifting alien from kenya, who's coming for our guns and bo is a member of the iluminati.

>> we've got the restore the trust in government. >> they're down to swinging. >> yes, you didn't want us to see the details. >> it's too consistent with which the way you conduct yourself as a member of congress. it's unacceptable and it's shameful. >> which officials knew about the scandal? >> one advice i give to republicans is, stop calling it a huge scandal. >> this makes watergate looks like child's play. >> stop saying it's a watergate. >> probably more like a iran/contra. >> stop saying it's iran/contra. >> how do you feel about comparisons to those that happened under the nixon administration? >> feeds the narrative of the other side that it's only a political event. >> i'll let you guys engage in those comparisons. you can go ahead and read the history, i think, and draw your own conclusions. let's threget right to our panel. my colleague, krystal ball, co-host of "the cycle." and mr. peterson of lehigh university. professor, after running around like headless chickens, republicans want us to know

they're not going too far or too fast on these scandals. representative jim jordan of ohio tells "the new york times," "we're just trying to proceed at the speed that gets to the truth." do you think, professor, that that fairly describes theç cal and considerate approach of speaker john boehner who says he's not interested in knowing who's responsible, he just wants to know who's going to jail? >> it's so interesting they've been critiquing this administration for overreach, but when we look over the course of this week, there has been quite a bit of overreach from those on the right around those so-called sandals. what's interesting to me, martin, the president's response to all three of these. the release of the e-mails. the firing of the head of the irs and the requests to schumer about getting the media shield law in place. seem to me to be all three very, very effective ways of addressing the scandals. and it just takes some of the wind out of the sails of some of his republican opponents who are so slighted about these things, sort of emerging at the same

time. so a lot of the wind out of the sails i think have been taken out of the sort of washingtonian scandal season of the week. now here we are on friday and it's kind of the week is going out with a little bit of a whimper. >> well, i would challenge that, sir. krystal, republicans say, as i just said, they don't want to get ahead of themselves. hasn't that horse already left the barn? listen to this, krystal. >> i will tell you, as i have been home in my district, in the 6th district of minnesota, there isn't a weekend that hasn't gone by that someone says to me, michel michele, what are you waiting for in congress? why haven't you impeached the president? he's been making ç unconstitutional actions since he came into office. >> krystal, there isn't a weekend that hasn't going by that someone says to me. is mrs. bachmann talking to the same person who told her that the hpv vaccine causes mental retardation? >> that is an excellent question. one that i am not well

positioned to answer. but i think you're absolutely right, martin. this is not just about one person on the fringe in the republican caucus having totally overplayed their hand here. because you had mitch mcconnell and all 45 members of the republican senate caucus sending a letter essentially accusing the president and the administration of trying to chill the political speech of their opponents in regards to the irs issue. really painting with a broad brush and trying to level all sorts of accusations which are, of course, completely false. i expect the republicans to behave with exactly the kind of responsible and fact finding behavior we've seen demonstrated with benghazi. they have this compulsion. they can't help themselves because they want so badly for all of the things that they dream to be true about the president to actually be true. >> professor peterson, krystal gave us a lengthy answer there, but she couldn't answer the

question, which is, was michele bachmann referring to the same person who told her that the hpv vaccine provokes luntal retardation? i'm asking you the same question, sir. >> i wasn't trying to dodge. >> i don't even know if i can answer that question. >> will you try, sir? you're an arodite man. invite you on to this broadcast because of your great learning. all i'm asking, is she speaking to the same person? >> the answer to the question is in the question, martin, in that it goes to michele bachmann's credibility. right? that the fact that when she says she talks to someone about, or she talks to people every week who want to impeach this president, how can we trust her credibility knowing the story about the hpv vaccine? which was not only insane and anecdotal, but also untrue. so, and i, again, republicans may be overplaying their hand, but i think there's leadership in the republican party that's got to understand that when you have michele bachmann and some of these other far right wing folk out there talking about impeachment, it actually undermines the very real

investigations that they think they want to try to do to try to prove these scandals should stick with this particular administration. again, martin, when you look at how the administration resfopded over the course of the week, look at the new information we have about benghazi and who planted those sort of cherry picked e-mails in the media this week. when you look at -- when you look at the sort of fund raising efforts of these tea party organizations, 30-1 to those left wing organization in terms of the election. now when you look at the president's support in the media shield law, there's a way in which these scandals don't seem asç robust as they were earlie in the week. >> okay. well, krystal, to the professor's point, you recall that newt gingrich led the impeachment drive against bill clinton in 1998. the result was that republicans lost seats in the house that year. well now, lo and behold, newt gingrich is out there telling his fellow republicans that, "we overreached in 1998." is it too late even for the

magnificent newt to put humpty dumpty back together again? that's not a reference to newt's physique. >> i think it really is. this is a compulsion. when these members of congress go back to their very red districts at home, this is what their base wants to hear from them. then you have the dynamic of people like lindsey graham who are concerned, potentially, about a primary threat from their right. this is a way for them to drum up support with their base, to hide from some of the more moderate things they may want to do like immigration reform. the unfortunate thing, though, is that by doing that, by really poisoning the political well in such a divisive and ugly way, they absolutely undermine any chance to get anything real done in this congress. >> that's the terrible condemnation, i think, and the lasting condemnation of this week. krystal ball, and professor james peterson. thank you so much. >> thanks, martin. coming up, a congratulatory word for congress. yes, you heard me right.n cf1 o we're going to congratulate

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bounty select-a-size. and try bounty napkins. hopes for immigration reform in the house of representatives were at an all-time low until last night when a bipartisan group emerged and announced an a agreement many principle. it calls for a pathway to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants. let's welcome maria teresa kumar. i'm no expert in the spanish language. the fact the house is doing anything on a bipartisan basis, i believe the word is a miracle? >> my goodness. it is a miracle. >> what happened? >> i think the republicans and the democrats are actually taking advantage of the fact everybody is paying attention right now to benghazi and paying attention to the irs scandals and the difficult time the white house is having and they're actually working around the media and actually allowing

themselves to do the real work of this nation and that is to pass comprehensive immigration reform. >> right. now, much remains to be worked out as you know. but it's been reported that the path to citizenship in the house agreement would take 15 years. why soç long? >> well, i think, and for most americans they may not realize that originally you didn't have to have a waiting period back about 100 years ago. it turned out to be five years after you received your green card to get a pathway to citizenship. 15 years is three times more than the average american believes that they need to. but it is a compromise. and it's a compromise in a sense that for a long time the republicans in the house were basically saying any pathway to citizenship was dead on arrival. i congratulate them for hashing this out. >> at least there's the prospect, albeit, it will be 15 years, but the aspect of proper citizenship for all these undocumented immigrants at some

point? >> the reasoth citizenship is so important, we don't want to have two classes of american in this country. 11 million people living in the shadows basically that become stateless because while they're here legally, they never have a pathway to become true americans. the other thing is, unless you do have 11 million people with a pathway to citizenship, every single person that's not white in this country, people will always wonder, are you here documented or not? are you an american? that's something we don't want to have, either. >> now, congressman becerra, a democrat, has been working with representative john carter of texas on this deal. so is there actual bipartisanship in the least bipartisan place? >> i think whatç happened is tt the gentleman from texas realized his demographics are changing. >> right. >> and his demographics are his destiny. and if you look at the electoral map in texas, you have 2.4 million american latinos that are unyet registered. talk about a place that you actually recognize that the

latino vote is up for grabs and you better change your tune on how you talk to them. that's one of the reasons why rick perry, for as right as he was on so many issues, he really cultivated the latino community and really was a proponent of the dream act. >> right. >> because he recognized that was his potential base, too. >> indeed. of course, george w. bush was when he was in texas. then as president. now, these re-branding efforts, notwithstanding maria teresa, there is still, there is still a, quote, self-deportation caucus in the house as you know. they were out there on tuesday warning us that a path to citizenship would turn the u.s. into a third world hell hole. their words. how to ydo you assess their abi to obstruct this new green shoots of republican agreement? >> how much credence are you going to pay attention to that squeaky wheel? they don't want pathway to citizenship. they're saying americans are completely self-sustaining,

which is not case. because we have roughly 10,000 baby boomers retiring every single day, we need immigrant labor in this country. who are those individuals? whether it'sç bachmann, king, e they interested in national office? because if they're interested in national office, or even statewide office, they're going to have to change their tune because the demographics state by state has changed so much that if they want to tgo away from their gerrymandered districts they need a pathway to citizenship and change their immigration stance because they're not going to be able to win simply because of the boom of latino population across all 50 states. >> indeed. maria teresa kumar. thanks so much for joining us, maria. >> thank you, martin. coming up, the defense ministry comes down on a systemic problem in the military. stay with us. the simplified purina one beyond. learn more about these wholesome ingredients at purinaone.com

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in the last ten days the military has relieved three sex abuse prevention workers, two

officers and one sergeant of their duties. the latest incident, follows cases in ft. hood in texas and arlington, virginia. it comes on the heels of a pentagon report that found the number of unreported incidents of unwanted sexual conduct were up by more than a third. for more we bring in nbc's kristen welker live with us from washington and karen finney, former dnc communications director. i'm delighted to say soon to be a colleague of mine here at msnbc. kristen, defense secretary chuck hagel andç joint chiefs of sta chairman martin dempsey held a news conference, most devoted to sexual assault in the military. can you tell us what they had to say, what their proposals are? >> primarily chuck hagel said today he signed a directive mandating that all personnel who are charged with training dealing with instances of sexual assault in the military be recertified and retrained. essentially pointing to the fact

that this problem has really gotten beyond the control of the defense department. more than 3,000 instances of sexual assault reported last year, alone, martin, in the military. either the aggressor or the victim being within the military. so the defense secretary saying that this is a serious issue and one that they really need to address in a hands-on manner. now, he was asked specifically what he thinks about this idea of those who want to make charges of sexual assault having to go through a chain of command. as you know, senator kirsten gillibrand has a bill that would essentially knock that out. that those who want to report instances of sexual assault would not have to go through a chain of command. here's what defense secretary chuck hagel had to say. take a listen. >> we're looking at everything, and we are listening to victims carefully, closely. we're not taking anything off the table. and we want to understand all this best. >> karen, you also watched that news conference with secretary hagel and general dempsey.

what was your impression? >> you know, i heard the rigtç things from both men, particularly, you know, given that they were talking act the fact that this is clearly a cultural problem and that it's something that they want to make sure that they handle in a systemic way. i thought it was -- that clip right there, i was pleased to hear him say they are talking to the victims to really try to understand -- he goes on to say from the beginning to when it's reported all the way through to how it's handled. that's what we need. i think what kirsten's bill does, senator gillibrand's bill does says, take it out of the chain of command and make sure this is handled by people specifically trained to deal with these kinds of crimes and so you're not in a situation where you might have, you know, a person who actually -- making a decision about the case who knows both the victim and the perpetrator. >> yeah. so, of course, senator gillibrand there talking about defining this as being in the hands of military prosecutors as posed to military commanders.

>> correct. >> right. >> correct. >> kristen, there was another story out of the air force today. a general apologized for a comment he made before congress last week. what was that about? >> that's right. well, air force general mark welsh said last week that he believes that the rampant level of sexual assault within the military is due in part to the, quote, hookup culture. today he apologized for that martin. i'll read you what he said. he said "if iç had this to do over again, i would take more time to answer the question and not try to compress it." so really an acknowledgement that that is not the accurate way to look at this situation. interestingly, he also said he believes one of the problems here is alcohol abuse. so that is certainly something that the military will look at as well. as you know, president obama met with military leaders yesterday. he also stressed the importance of dealing with this issue head-on. but he said there's no silver bullet to dealing with this issue, martin, that this will be

a long process. >> i'm sure it will. karen, can i play something that general dempsey said today as well? it's about war as one possible factor in the rise of sexual assaults. take a listen. >> after ten years of war, there is the potential that we should examine whether we become a little bit too forgiving. not just of sexual harassment, sexual assault, but of other forms of misconduct as well. >> do you think, karen, that he was there referring to the many soldiers who have had repeat periods of service in highly hostile environments? >> he might have been, although from what i understand, most of the cases that we're talking about actually are happening in places like the marine barracks right here in washington, d.c. they're not necessarily always happening in these combat zones. so i think we'd want to better understand if there's a correlation. we know, though, of course, when men and women serving with multiple tours of duty who

probably are suffering from any number of things like ptsd and need more attention, i'm not sure if we know yet if that's the right correlation to be made. >> so do you think, then, that his expression of some kind of context was, perhaps, misplaced there? >> well, i think he was right to suggest that, you know, i mean he went on to say, look, if somebody has, you know, lots of ribbons or we may be giving him the benefit of the doubt more than we should, i think that's the right attitude. begin, one of the things that was so positive, i think, from what we heard, and let's see what action comes out of it, was, again, the right kind of attitude and understanding that, hey, we have to really take a serious look at how we handle this. >> indeed. final question to you, kristen. what happens next with senator gillibrand's proposal? >> well, she obviously needs to try to get support to move it through the senate. and the question is, will she get bipartisan support for this bill? i do think there is some level

of a desire to address this issue. so that could certainly be on her side. really there's a sense of embarrassment, i think, that this has happened and that it's gone on for so long and been unaddressed. i think you will see senator gillibrand really out in front on his issue giving the full-court press and certainly the president as well and defense secretary hagel. >> kristen welker and karen finney. thank you both >> thank you, martin. straight ahead. we asked you and your answered. it's a friday afternoon mailbag, so to speak. stay with us. 14 clubs. that's what they tell us a legal golf bag can hold. and while that leaves a little room for balls and tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls.

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discussing the whiff of scandals swirling around the white house. as we look to the weekend, we posed a question to you on our facebook page. rate the president and his performance in the face of this week's adversitadversity. a 1 being give this man a third term. a 10 being impeach him immediately. we must say we were overwhelmed with your feedback. almost 1,000 and counting. while we're not surprised to find so many of you hold the president in high esteem, there was a wide variety of opinion. some chided the president for not pushing back against republicans. giving the president a 4, connie of louisville, kentucky, wrote "i'm really disappointed that he doesn't call them on the bs and keep the focus on liberating the abuses of corporation buying the votes of our politicians." some, however, felt impeachment was too kind an option. with 11 for the president, john of dallas, texas, responded "arrest him." sound like a fan of speaker

boehner to me. some, well, celebrated his presidency but also suggested he may be growing a little weary of the whole thing. giving him just a 1 wrote sherrelle of new york "but i don't think he'd want a third term if he was offered it. congress needs to step it up. haters at their best." i know. to those of you outraged by the idea we'd suggest an unconstitutional third term, relax. it was merely motic license. if you'd like to add your voice to the discussion, please do so at our facebook page, that's facebook.c facebook.com/martinbashir. if brevity is your preference, tweet us @bashirlive. thanks so much for staying with us today and for the week. chris matthews and "hardball" will be next. have a great weekend.

death in taxes. let's play "hardball."ç good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. call me a charlie rangel fan. today i watched him at the hearings on the irs mess. i heard him say everything i believe. it's this. if you have a problem in a company or on a team or in a government agency, you deal with it. you get rid of the bad apples. it's the one sure way, only sure way to convince people what they're seeing as bad has been removed. now, if you want the company or teamgency o government, itself, to look back, hoot and holler. don't fix the problem, don't get rid of the bad apples. let them sit there and smell up the whole barrel. let them stink up all the apples. the republicans have a lot to holler about here. they have r